Nuevas ciudades en un poblado rural (Purmamarca, Jujuy)

Abstract

In the seventies, the village of Purmamarca -located in the Quebrada de Humahuaca, Jujuy Province, northwest Argentino- was identified in terms of ciudad-huerta (city-garden); while today, is presented as a pueblo boutique (boutique town). The processes that transformed the region are linked to the UNESCO declaration of the Quebrada de Humahuaca as heritage (2003), the construction of the Corredor Bioceanico which increased connectivity and economic crisis of Argentina in the early twenty-first century; intensified the tourism dynamic. In this context, Purmamarca turned into merchandise, their homes mutated to hotels, new tourism infrastructure was built, increased land prices and real estate values. Local people and new investors attracted by the tourism market competed for the land, inside and outside the traditional urban area. Against this backdrop, new location strategies have been developed outside legal administrative town limits. To understand this village is necessary redefine the scope thereof. This paper examines the constitution processes of this new city; it is showing the occupation strategies and the urban forms resulting. To announce such a thorough job of field was made; with survey, interviews and informal conversations to neighbors and political leaders (between 2009 and 2014), supported in drawing and graphic reinterpretation of existing sources and other news sources.